Do you boycott any companies?
 

It is something that doesn't get brought up by the media, and while a one person boycott might not do much, even a 50% boycott wouldn't stop some companies if they had to spend more in order to change than the additional revenue from some new customers.

The places where I won't spend money at are:

Exxon
Texaco
Wal-Mart
Phillip Morris/Altria or any tabbaco company
Coke/Pepsi
AOL - (They tried to tame the wild internet, boycotting has been successful in this instance)
Comcast/Time Warner/AT&T - (They have helped improve the internet, but the government should have contracted the work out and created a free-for-all internet)
Microsoft
RIAA

A lot of people can't afford to boycott. You may not like Walmart, but for people stretching a buck, that buck goes a lot farther there. Principles will take a back seat when it comes to basic needs.

I haven't shopped at Walmart for about two years now, and Starbucks for longer than that. I have issues with both companies.

Those are the main ones... although, if given the choice, I'll always take the smaller hometown company over a large corporate conglomerate.

I am not as well informed as I want to be but when I find out a company is doing some reprehensible I try my best to avoid there product(s) and or those store(s). That said the only thing i can mention I am boycotting currently regardless of cost to me is IAMS pet food. This is due to my knowledge of there practices with harm to animals. I know of several trials were limbs were removed to keep the animal imobile and easy to maintain while testing there food and products.

Unfortunately IAMS is part of a larger company that makes many products. Its hard to boycott all companies or stores that do things unethically.

As for wal-mart its simply a money thing for me. I get most of my supplies elsewhere but sometimes no one can beat there prices and I am on a fixed budget because of disability so I can't afford to buy only at hte mom and pop stores though I do purchase there as well.

I used to stay away from Wal-Mart simply because they put too many of my friends small businesses out of business. In the small county I lived in they were sneaky and under handed in the way they did it too. I have friends down here too that owned a small chain of what I'd call 5 and dime stores. Wal-Mart sank them too. Fine for them they retired to Mexico and don't seem to be hurting. But the business they inherited from their parents and planed to pass on to their children is history.

Now I live where often Wally World or Sam's is the only place I can get certain items. Basically if Costco doesn't have it I'm forced to look at Sam's.

i won't eat at applebee's or sam seltzers steak house because of the cavalier attitude (my perception) i've experienced of their staffs...

there's a sears store in hunt valley, md, that will never see me again...

I won't eat at McDonalds under any circumstances. I try to persuade others as well.

I try to stay away from Wal-mart. And I tend to lean towards Canadian products, followed by American.

It's hard, though, considering the proportion of products from Asia and South America.

You have to drag me into walmart but not because of some principled moral stance. I just find the shopping experience there unpleasant. Too big, too crowded and too chaotic. I also resent the hightened velvet security.

is this a political or health issue you have with the golden arches?

ill stay away from mcdonalds for health reasons. but ill have it maybe 3 or 4 times a year when i get weak.

I get the same soulless feeling from seeing the people mill about in Wal-mart that I used to get whenever I would watch people at nightclubs.

At least I was usually drunk at the nightclubs.

In the words of Sam Roberts: "One life to live, but we're doing it wrong...."

Walmart: At the forefront of anti-labor and low pay, Walmart will never ever get a dollar of mine.

Fandango: I hate their brown paper bag commercials. They're fucking annoying.

Exxon: Iraq war.

Anything associated with Philip Morris, including Kraft, Nabisco, Kool-aid, Cool Whip, Jello, and Di Giorno: Philip Morris is about the most evil corporation in existence.

I'll think of more later.

Health

Does it count as boycotting if I can't afford their products and therefore choose a cheaper brand?

I boycott expensive potato chips.
I boycott expensive soda pop.
I boycott name brand nearly everything.

I boycott Monsanto products. No Roundup will EVER be welcome in my yard. This boycott extends to not eating products made from Monsanto's various GMOs.

I don't shop at Wal-Mart if I can help it; unfortunately there are many places in the Western United States where Wal-Mart has become the only choice.

I try to avoid products made by Dow Chemical, but because they're a major chemical supplier, this can be difficult. They have earned my wrath because of their refusal to take responsibility for the Union Carbide accident in Bhopal, India. They bought Union Carbide in 1999, and Union Carbide had still not done enough to clean up what they caused. Someone has to take responsibility for it.

There are more...I'm just so used to not buying their products now that I can't think of what they are. This is what happens when you live in the bubble created by living in a hippie town.

I avoid Procter & Gamble products whenever possible. I mainly avoid them because of the misery I experienced from shaving with a Gillette Fusion razor, and their marketing of said razor. $1 a week my ass, more like $1.10 a day for their lousy cartridges.

I believe they are known as the conglomerate Altria now.

Oh, I forgot about McDonald's. It's a health thing for me, as well.

Turns out sweatshops are good for developing countries so I'm no longer against Wal-Mart or any multinational corporations for that reason. I still try not to shop at Wal-Mart because of how they treat their employees. Plus the ridiculous notion of having a greeter at the door. They always weird me out every time I go in there.
Others on the list: Lacoste, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hilton Hotels. I'm sure there are more but those are all I can think of at the moment.

I vote no. My wallet comes first. If a company makes good items at the most competitive price, then I'll buy them. If the items are cheap and 'raggedy' nope. On the other hand if they're expensive ... c'ya!!!

I currently do not purchase anything from Verizon due to old NYNEX issues I had. MCI/Worldcom was another, and AT&T is another company I'm not pleased with.

I will do my best to avoid companies I don't like, but will purchase loss leaders from said companies because it is a net loss for them.

Walmart, IAMS pet food

Anything made in China . . .just joking on this one.

I prefer not to buy Venezuelan oil (Citgo).
I also generally avoid WalMart because they are toxic for American workers, although I completely understand the personal economics that make many people shop there.

My mother works for a clothing manufacturer that supplies to Wal-Mart. I can tell you that none of their good are produced by sweat shops and Wal-Mart has the highest quality standards of any of the company's resellers.

I don't boycott anything, but I certainly do avoid things if I can help it. I'll never turn down a Mercedes-Benz. I'll never refuse to eat fast food if its given to me. I'll never resist going into Wal-Mart. But I don't generally partake of these things either.

I avoid Monsanto products as well.

I refuse to use Sprint. I've had (as well as friends and family) way too many problems with their "service" to ever use them again.

Citgo waters down their gas with ethanol and my car got 3-4mpg less using it. The fact that I'm not supporting Chavez is a bonus. Aside from that, I avoid gun stores with political signs or stickers, which tends to work out because they're usually run by fudds or fat guys with Blackwater hats who love to gouge you on prices.

Oh hell ya I do. Recently, and most especially walgreens pharmacy. They're borderline criminal.

Wal-Mart

In the past no, but now I think "yes". I just saw a quiznos commercial that made me want to boycott them:

The little oven that they run their subs through was talking to the sub maker via it's oven lights heating up, saying "please put it in me", as he was holding their new meat filled 12 inch sub. There was no humour. Just stupid meaningless sexual references with subs and pre-heated ovens. Not clever, not funny, and it came on at 6:30 on a Saturday. I won't call it boycotting though., because that for me just conjures up pukish images of picket signs and chanting. Quiznos pissed me off so I won't go there, until I'm REALLY running short on time and super hungry, then I'll make an exception.

If I was going to officially boycott something, it might be wall-mart, but only because of the customers that rampage that place. The mentality of that shopper becomes painfully obvious in the parking lot, and gets worse from there.

I think boycotting is stupid. I like Wal*Mart $5 DVD bin. I like Starbucks Java Chip for $4. I love gas in my car and I don't care where it comes from. I'm not a fan of greasy fast food, but I won't shy away if offered for free or I am very hungry. I don't think I've ever bough a Microsoft product, but their software powers my computer and my phone (I guess I bought one MS product after all).

I stopped buying from buy.com a long time ago over their return policy on a monitor I ordered. It was physically impossible to return the merchandise in the time frame they required, and they charged me not only for return shipping; but also a restocking fee. Basically, it cost me over $40 for a monitor I never used, so I promised them they'd never get my business again.

So far, it's cost them a few thousands of dollars in sales that now go mostly to amazon.com & newegg.com.

I also boycott Blu-Ray DVDs and DeBeers diamonds. Both have used heavy handed and misinformation to become monopolistic and anti-consumer.

ALL Procter & Gamble products
All products that aren't animal friendly
All products that aren't guaranteed to be sweatshop free
All products that have a Fairtrade alternative

I spent a few months in the USA last year and found that sticking to the above rules is a LOT easier in the UK... we're a lot more geared up for it here.

I forgot about Netflix. I had only one or two movies left in my queue so I had put my account on hold so I could add to my queue until I had enough movies in there to justify the service for a month. The account automatically restarts after 90 days if you don't put it on hold again before that time. Well I forgot all about it until I received an email from Netflix advising that "Welcome back! We hope you enjoyed your time away from Netflix. As you requested on 11/21/2007, we have reactivated your account, and billing will resume today." Well actually I did not make any sort of request that my account be reactivated. It would have been nice if they had the decency to send a reminder email 3-4 days before the hold was removed instead of sending a "haha, got your 21 bucks" email after they had removed the hold and charged my credit card. Even if the email had said something along the lines of "your 90 day account hold has ended and your account has been reactivated" it wouldn't have made me as mad.

Two main ones... Coors and Wal-Mart.


The Coors family has repeatedly tried to hold office in Colorado and always gets shut down. They are lying thieving assholes. Ask anyone in Colorado. We don't like them here. And the beer is fucking gross.


A few years ago, Wal-Mart tried to open a giant mega-store in what they thought was a failing section of Denver. Turned out to be the second fastest growing section in Colorado. The residents that had worked so hard to clean up the area with local businesses, good restaurants, and doing whatever else was needed to bring the 'hood back up from near destruction successfully voted Wal-Mart out of the area. Now, where the Wal-Mart would have been in a really kick ass indoor farmer's market, a nice selection of up-scale but rent-controlled housing, and a few other local businesses (Mostly owned by the people that live right down the street.)

Other then that, I don't much care. I try to stay away from fast food but that's for health reasons and I'd rather catch a bite at a local mom/pop place. I don't drive so the gas thing doesn't bother me. I have AT&T/Comcast and have never had a problem. I own Nikes and pretty much every other name brand you can think of so...

Oh wait... I forgot. This kind of goes with the fast food. I refuse to eat at any place like Chilis, Applebees, Olvie Garden... But that's just cause I'm super picky about my food.

I will never, ever, read or purchase a copy of The Sun.

For reasons Highthief will appreciate.

And btw, I mean literally never... if they had Rachel Bilson on Page 3 I wouldnt buy copy of this disgusting rag.

The NY Post, I won't read, and each time I see someone reading it I can't help but stare at the tabloid-like sensationalist headlines that take up a half a page. I think it's a newspaper for idiots, sorry if I offended anyone.
Other than that, I've stopped buying Lays chips, since they've become prohibitevly expensive, and have started getting the cheapest beer, which I happen to like, Schlitz. At $3.50 a 6 pack, and tasting better than the other cheap stuff, they'll get my business until I can afford much better stuff.
Starbuck's, I'll only take when I don't have cash and need coffee, and nobody else takes card nearby. Otherwise I'll go to Dunkin Donut's, which I think tastes better.
I don't find anything wrong with McDonald's, or engineered food in general; I wouldn't eat there everyday, though, but once in a while it feels good (until it doesn't).
And I heard Procter and Gamble tests on animals, so I try not to buy from them.

Whats wrong with Blu-rays? They have fantastic sound, cost the same for a new release on blu ray as it does on DVD, and my ps3 came equipped with one.

I try to avoid Best Buy and Futureshop at all costs. Horrible horrible companies that take advantage of people who do not know what they want. Everytime anyone needs any kind of technological device that is sold at FF or BB I point them to a better store, better more honest and cheaper.

Companies are so entwined these days it would take a lot of energy to find the connections for a boycott. Personally, I've never felt strongly enough about something to do a boycott. My mom boycotted Domino Pizza when I was younger because they made comments about our last name. My step-daughter stopped drinking Pepsi when Britney Spears was advertising for them.
I really dislike WalMart, but luckily, they are not allowed to build inside Chicago city limits. So I don't even have to worry about them for the time being. But I would probably boycott that company if anything. Although, they are like a virus that kills off every business around them making them the only choice to shop. I saw this occur in my hometown. It is very sad because once the competition is gone, the smiley face lowering prices turns evil and jacks them back up.

On balance, I refuse to get my insurance from Progressive. Crappy politics, crappy service.

/USAA all the way.